Career Networking

Tips on how to maintain your Network

Career Networking is a must.

My pages on:

Networking basics,
Why you should Network ,
How to develop and get in touch with your new network,
Business Networking Online,
Networking for the Recent Grad

have given you some tips on how to build your network. This networking page will show you how to maintain your network.

Now that you have taken the time to build your network you may think that the hard work is over. Not so, you will need to spend time and energy maintaining your network. You would not want all of your hard work to go to waste, would you?

To maintain your network you must make a point to contact the members of your network on a regular basis. A colleague once told me that he schedules one lunch a month with different contacts. These are people outside of his immediate friends and colleagues, but people he feels are critical to his network.

This may sound like extra time and energy in your already busy schedule, but maintaining these contacts can be a life saver if you are ever in need of assistance. So, with that perspective, is one lunch a month really that much work?

Of course you should also maintain contact via phone calls and e-mails. If a contact has helped you send him/her a thank you note. And make sure that you are also helping out your network whenever possible!

Maintaining your network is not a lot of work but is crucial to your career. Make sure that you are investing in your future by maintaining this critical part of your success.

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